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Qantas Joeys draw 3-3 with USA - FULL REPORT

The Australian Under 17 team, the Qantas Joeys, have drawn 3-3 with USA2 in the first of their two matches in the Nike International Friendlies tournament in Lancaster County, Los Angeles.

The Australian Under 17 team, the Qantas Joeys, have drawn 3-3 with USA2 in the first of their two matches in the Nike International Friendlies tournament in Lancaster County, Los Angeles.

The Qantas Joeys were shocked by the sudden death from a heart attack of their coach, Martyn Crook, on Saturday (Australian time) as they were preparing for the three match series against the USA and Brazil. The first match, which had been scheduled to take place on Saturday morning Australian time, was cancelled.

Football Federation Australia's (FFA) Head of National Teams, John Boultbee, who flew to Los Angeles to be with the team on the weekend said that the boys were bearing up well in the circumstances.

"Their emotions were in check for the game, and they displayed a very professional and mature approach.

"They were very keen to get out on the park and do their best as a tribute to Martyn."

The team wore black arm bands in a mark of respect for their former mentor and there was one minute's silence before kick-off. All 18 squad members were available to play.

Given the circumstances of the last few days, the Qantas Joeys start was fairly explosive and they went two-up inside the first 10 minutes.

The first goal came after seven minutes when Marc Warren, broke down the left; passed inside to Joseph Costa, who shot low and hard at goal. The USA keeper failed to hold the shot, the ball rebounding out to Nikola Stanojevic on the edge of the box and he made no mistake with his first time shot.

Two minutes later Costa scored after turning his defender and firing his shot home, after terrific lead up work by Kamal Ibrahim, Jared Lum and Stanojevic. Costa-s celebration paid tribute to Crook, looking up to the sky and kissing the black arm band.

After such a blistering start, the players relaxed and a further two minutes later saw the USA pull a goal back.

By half time the scores were level with the USA grabbing a 35th equaliser and then on the hour they took the lead.

But the Aussie boys, were not about to let the game slip and seven minutes later Lum and Stephen Domenici combined to feed Kerim Bulut. Bulut slipped past a defender in the box, who as he fell grabbed the ball, preventing Bulut with a goalscoring opportunity. The USA defender received a red card and Bulut made no mistake with his spot kick, to draw the scores level.

Despite having a man advantage, Australia was unable to grab a winner in the final 20 minutes, but given what had happened in the preceding days the boys put in a terrific performance.